


Flash Flood

by misspamela



Category: Invisible Man
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2009-11-16
Updated: 2009-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-03 02:49:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misspamela/pseuds/misspamela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the Worst-Case Scenario challenge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flash Flood

_Aristotle once said: "In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous." Well, when you combine Chrysalis with Mother Nature, you get something a little less than marvelous._

Darien pushed thick, green leaves away from his face. Goddamned jungle. Darien didn't even know there _were_ jungles in California. He squinted ahead through the foliage. All he could see of Hobbes was briskly moving branches and the occasional flash of a machete. Hobbes was frighteningly competent with the machete, which wasn't really surprising to Darien at all.

"Hey!" Darien yelled. "How do you know where we're going? And why are we _walking_?"

The rustling stopped and Hobbes materialized out of a large purplish bush. He held up a finger. "One. Reconnaissance. And B--" he held up another finger " - the Fat Man wouldn't spring for a helicopter. No roads means no van, and no van means�""

"Walking," Darien sighed.

"Your little footsies will survive, Fawkes." Hobbes turned and plunged back into the bushes.

They had only been going for a few more minutes when the earth started shaking.

Darien grabbed on to a nearby tree and yelled, "Hobbes!"

"Up, up, up!" Hobbes ran back through the brush and shimmied up the tree. Darien didn't ask questions. He scrambled up, his hands scraping on the rough bark, until he got to the branch next to Hobbes.

"What do you think it is?" he whispered.

"Flash flood," Hobbes whispered back.

Darien sat up. "_What_?"

"Flash flood, it's a flash flood." Hobbes scanned the ground, inexplicably raising his machete. Hobbes was always so comforted by weaponry. Darien found it strangely endearing.

"A flash �" Hobbes, we're a mile from a Chrysalis energy plant, there's not a rain cloud in sight, and you think _flash flood_? Not, you know, _explosion_? And when did you get so good at climbing trees?"

"You like that? Little trick I picked up in Nicaragua."

Darien grinned. "Very nice."

"And I tell you it's a flood." Hobbes carefully braced the machete against an adjacent branch.

Darien put his hand on the tree trunk and cautiously reached up to a higher branch with his other hand. He tried to get a better look, but all he could see was dense green.

"Hobbes, I don't �" why are you taking your pants off?"

"First rule of surviving a flash flood�""

"It's not a flood!"

"�"is to find a personal flotation device. Actually," Hobbes continued, casually tying knots in the ankles of his pants. "the first rule is to check the water level, but since there's no water�""

"Hence, no flood!" Darien gestured emphatically at the dry ground.

"Do you have a plastic bag?" Hobbes craned his neck around a branch to peer at Darien.

"A what?" Darien was stuck in a tree with a lunatic. "Did you take your meds?"

"That's beside the point. If we had a bag, we could inflate it. These pants aren't going to get us far." He started to blow into the waistband of the pants.

Darien shook his head. "That's it. You're insane. Chrysalis is waiting, and I'm out of here. Follow me if you want." Darien sat down and swung his legs over the branch.

At that moment, the rumbling grew louder. Birds shot out of the bushes and trees, screeching and squawking. Darien nearly fell out of the tree, so he wrapped himself around the trunk and held on for dear life as the earth shook itself apart around him. "Earthquake!" he screamed.

Hobbes, with one hand gripping the machete and the other on a sturdy branch, just shook his head.

Suddenly, a wall of water crested over the nearest bushes and crashed down, rushing past them in a gray-green swirl. As Darien's brain recovered from the shock, the water settled down to just a few inches below Hobbes' feet.

"How did you �"" Darien pointed at Hobbes, down to the water, and back at Hobbes again.

"Bobby Hobbes knows these things, my friend." He held up his inflated pants in triumph.

Darien rolled his eyes. "I'm not floating back to Golda on your pants."

"Do you have a better idea?" Bobby raised his eyebrows.

"Uh… the Fish is just going to have to spring for a chopper?" Darien could feel his hope fading. Visions of wet khakis and slippery machetes danced in his head.

"It looks like he already did." Bobby pointed to the sky, where a sleek black helicopter, trailing a rope ladder, was descending above them.

"Hey, alright!" Darien waved frantically skyward. "Nice timing!" He grabbed the ladder as soon as it came within reach.

Once Hobbes was on, they were pulled up to safety. Darien stumbled inside, thanking his lucky stars and wondering how the hell the Agency knew to come get them. Hobbes came right in behind him, panting, as they peered around the cabin. "Hello?" Darien called.

The cockpit door opened.

"Hello, Mister Fawkes. Good to see you again." Stark stepped into the cabin and smiled at them. "You're so much more pleasant when you're visible. I'm sorry you got caught in our little flood." He clasped his hands together, smirking. "That was something of an unexpected bonus."

Darien and Hobbes looked at each other and sighed. "Aw, crap."


End file.
